Wimbledon - England

The Event: After getting our queue card the night before (number 671), we joined the long line of tents all queueing to get into Wimbledon the next day. With everyone getting woken up at 6 by the stewards, we were packed up and queueing by 7:30, to get into the grounds at 9. Liz, Stu, Amanda and I were lucky enough to get tickets for Court 1 by being early enough in the queue. This meant that amongst the players, we would be able to watch Maria Sharapova, the then topseeded lady. Even luckier were friends Gavin, Alexia, Kath and Tolis who (having started to queue 2 hours earlier the previous day) got Centre Court. They were kind enough to let us in to watch Djokovic (then also top seed) play the last 2 games of his winning match. They went on to watch Federer's epic battle in which he came back from 2 sets down against Benneteau to win his match.

Isle of Wight - England

The Event: Pearl Jam at Isle of Wight - great concert!
What was really great was to be there with some of my great buddies from university and school; Tim, Trev, and Steph and even Nick who happened to be in England for the weekend.
Changing our minds to drive up to the Festival on the Friday morning thankfully saved us from getting stuck in gridlock traffic on the Island due to the parking lots being too muddy for the hundreds of arrivals to park their cars that night. We ferried across in the morning and were parked and pitched by 12 o'clock. Though we had missed the worst of the rain, we still got the mud - sometimes sloshing through a foot of mud in our gumboots. Our tent was also pitched on a mud patch nestled tightly within a sea of tents - nice!
We watched some good acts including Biffy Clyro and Lana Del Rey, but could not have been luckier to watch an awesome gig by Pearl Jam. They belted out all their old hits including Given to Fly, Jeremy, Yellow ledbetter, Alive and Betterman and their presence on stage is powerful. We all had a great time and even managed to tour a bit of the Island afterwards, which included a visit to the needles.

Henley - England

The Event: After months of intensive training and with hopes being high for being selected to row, Liz made it into the Henley Womens Regatta 2012 to row in one of two fours for Barnes Bridge Ladies (BBL). Being one of the most well known regattas in the world and a familiar stomping ground for the likes of 5 times olympic gold medalist, Sir Steve Redgrave, it was great for me to witness Liz taking part in the race. 

Conditions were harsh in the blustering wind which seemed to rise from nowhere and then disappear just as quickly, but the team had a great race with the team giving it their all and making no mistakes. Unfortunately they didnt make it through to the next round, however as it turns out the other BBL boat went on to win it the following day. Despite some small intervals of rain, the sun did come out, making it a pleasant day out on what is a beautiful part of the Thames.